Editor's Note

The Charge

"I had a midget girlfriend. I loved her. I was nuts over her."—Larry the Cable Guy

The Case

Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, Bill Engvall, and Ron White are back for
their follow-up to the first Blue Collar Comedy Tour. This time, the
quartet arrives in Washington D.C. for the newest round of comedy, One for
the Road. Billed as the final theatrical installment in the Blue Collar
Comedy Tour cycle, One for the Road throws the same arrangement at
you as the other films did: each comedian does his roughly 20 minute set, then
all four come back to informally jaw with each other. It is this last element
that has set the tour apart, and lent it the "everyday Joe" feel that
has catapulted the show to success.

Obviously, the hook is that these four guys deliver Southern/redneck-ish
humor, utterly devoid of political correctness and often drenched in liquor and
drawl. The crowd loves it, and the touch of having them come back out to chew
the fat as an encore is a masterstroke.

So how was the comedy? For the most part, very funny. I think the order goes
something like this (funniest first): Larry the Cable Guy, Jeff Foxworthy, Ron
White, and Bill Engvall. No comic is outclassed and no one kills so much he
makes the others look like dopes.

Personally, it was Larry the Cable Guy all the way for me. The man just had
me laughing my adenoids out, though I readily admit he is an acquired taste.
Some folks may be turned off by his shtick, but for those people, I don't
foresee much value in this disc to begin with. This is straightforward
salt-of-the-earth comedy and the only politics touched upon involved the clowns
from PETA, anti-NRA activists, and snobs who think they're too cool for
Wal-Mart. Refreshing if you ask me.

Foxworthy usually kills, and even though the crowd was down with him, I
thought his material was lacking as compared to other sets he's done. Even the
much-relied-upon "you know you're a redneck if…" bit didn't
bring down the house as it usually did. White was solid as ever and Engvall
seems like a nice guy, but I never got into his material. He does excel in the
impromptu encore at the end where the four guys come back out.

In fact, all of them do well at the end, and it was by far the funniest
stretch of the night. I was literally crying over some of the stuff they were
pulling out. The first bit up was joke-sharing; each comic shared his favorite
traditional joke, and there some excellent ones. Second, the guys scrolled
through some unflattering, candid photos their wives had sent and proceeded to
mercilessly lay into each other. Hilarious stuff, and the audience was frenzied.
These "wrap-up" bits go a long way to showing why fans relate to the
tours so well—there's a real sense of hanging around with the guys, making
their shows feel real and honest.

Overall, I enjoyed the DVD more than I thought I would. I've heard these
guys do their routines many, many times, but the fresh material combined with a
rowdy crowd and some authentic laughs produced a funny, familiar experience.

This is a solid disc from Paramount. Though we're only talking about four
guys on stage, the anamorphic transfer looks great. The 5.1 surround gives you
ambient audience reaction but not much else. A decent offering of extras include
a skit with a George W. Bush impersonator, "Yankee Doodle Dandy," a
college Q&A panel where a few of the students tried to ask funny questions
but came across as utterly retarded, some fan interviews, a behind-the-scenes
featurette, and a photo gallery.

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What's "fair"? Whether positive or negative, our reviews should be unbiased, informative, and critique the material on its own merits.